Farewell to Kyogo, welcome back, Jota - and the prodigal son’s return?

Celtic fans are no strangers to the emotional bagatelle that comes with supporting the club. 

This week, however, has been a particularly bittersweet ride. The news of Kyogo’s departure to Stade Rennais has left many of us with a lump in our throats, while the return of Jota from the same club has sparked joy and optimism. 

It’s a strange feeling, akin to welcoming one family member home from abroad, only to watch another pack their bags, perhaps never to return.  

Kyogo’s time at Celtic has been special - at times, nothing short of magical. His energy, relentless work rate and world-class finishing combined with his humility and evident joy in playing in the Hoops to make him an easy player to love - and most of us still do.

Comparisons to Henrik Larsson are not made lightly, but Kyogo’s goals return and range of finishes put him in that rarefied air. He wasn’t just a goal scorer; he was a symbol of Ange Postecoglou’s revolution, a player who embodied the attacking, fearless football that brought excitement, trophies and great memories.  

It’s hard to begrudge Kyogo his move, if that's what he has to do to have a chance of potentially securing a spot in Japan’s World Cup squad.

But, personally, my instinct is that this move might not work out as he hopes. Stade Rennais, having dropped into the relegation places in Ligue 1, have struggled to get the best out of Jota, and their chaotic season doesn’t inspire confidence. We can only wish Kyogo well and hope he finds the success he deserves.  

On the flip side, the return of Jota is giving most of us the warm and fuzzies and feels like an encouraging sign that Celtic are not just a selling club but one capable of attracting players of his quality and price bracket.  

What’s even more impressive is the financial acumen behind the deal. To have made a profit in the region of £8 million over various transactions involving Jota, while still securing his services for five and a half years, is exceptional business. 

However, Jota’s return comes with a caveat. As Callum McGregor often says, there’s “zero credit in the bank.” Jota will need to hit the ground running, proving that he’s not just here to relive past glories but to create new ones. The same applies to Kieran Tierney, should his much-anticipated return materialise.

Speaking of KT, the prospect of his return feels like something that should happen, even if some reasonably question his ability to remain free of injuries. 

For me, like many others, KT never felt like he stopped being “our Bhoy” and if he does come back, it will feel like a longed-for return for a player who was only ever studying away from home.  

Yet, like Jota, Tierney will need to approach his return with the "zero credit " mindset and I have confidence that both can make it work.

The experiences of Jota and KT, along with the recent struggles of Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham, serve as a reminder that life outside Celtic Park isn’t always the promised land. (You can't get greener than Celtic!)

James Forrest has often spoken about ex-teammates who regretted leaving Celtic, and their experiences should serve as a cautionary tale, for all the allure of bigger leagues and bigger paychecks.  

Perhaps the most encouraging takeaway from this transfer window is the growing sense that Celtic are positioning ourselves as a club to come back to, for players in their peak years, rather than a stepping stone to “higher things” or a place to enjoy a pre-retirement sojourn.

There have been false dawns before, but just maybe, there has been a mentality shift and Celtic are on the way up.

We all love Emilio - but Izzy the answer for Celtic?

After a trying week for Celtic, one piece of news with the feelgood factor was the return of Emilio Izaguirre as cover for Kieran Tierney at left-back.

It's not at all hard to love Izzy and most fans do.

A player who is never gave less than his all (as he noted himself) those years of flying down the left wing have not been forgotten by the fans and he left to real affection and well-wishing from the supporters.

That's all well and good and I'm happy for him as he seems so pleased to have made his return.

From a football point of view, however, I'm not sure quite what this tells us about recruitment policy at the club.

Those who remember Izzy's early days will recall the expectation that those exciting early displays would lead to big-money bids from English clubs (with speculation that Manchester United were considering a move).

But, such is the power of social media that before long the wise amongst us were mostly agreeing online that there was a problem with his positional sense.

For my part, I predicted that Izzy would leave as, fine player that he is, I couldn't see him fitting into Brendan Rodgers's style of play.

His running and crossing can be excellent - he could easily have found a place in Martin O'Neill's Celtic teams - but I didn't think his touch was quite right for the quick passing that Brendan favours.

So, what has changed?

Was it a blunder to let him go and did Brendan really rate him and want to keep him? (He will have made good money in Saudi Arabia and good luck to him for that.)

Or is there more to the move than meets the eye?

Calvin Miller has looked promising but, at 20, is perhaps not considered ready to be considered as reliable cover for that 21-year-old veteran Kieran.

That's fair enough and if the Izzy move is to take pressure off Calvin while Kieran remains as our left-back, then we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

But let's be clear about something.

Having Izzy supporting Kieran is fine. Bringing back a popular player because, for example, Kieran might be sold is not fine at all.

We can all make mistakes and reversing a bad decision (if that's what letting Izzy go was) is smarter than ploughing on, rather than admitting a mistake.

But two days after Brendan expressed his displeasure at missing out on John McGinn, there is room for scepticism as to whether bringing Izzy back is a move that Brendan really wanted or an admission that Peter Lawwell and the board have no intention of supporting Brendan in terms of developing the squad.

So, who signed Izzy - Brendan or Peter?

And, if the answer is the latter, then no amount of love for Izzy is going to bring us much joy in the time to come.
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More than 25 million reasons why Celtic want Kieran Tierney to leave

You're already fed up hearing about Kieran Tierney leaving Celtic and so am I – but some issues need to be addressed.

Many, in recent days have recalled the time when Kenny Dalglish – King Kenny, as he was known by then – was sold to Liverpool on the eve of the 1977-78 season and the disastrous impact that had on morale.

Mike Maher conveys much of the atmosphere at the time, in the excellent Celtic Star Mag:

The estimable David Potter, writing for the same site, makes references to the issue in two articles, which are somewhat odd as the first reads to me as a crudely sarcastic attack on fans who are upset at the prospect of selling Kieran (I struggle to believe that Mr Potter believes that the double treble would be rendered meaningless or that The Rangers would be likely to win the Scottish Premier League). A second piece seems to demand that Kieran be kept with sincerity. (Perhaps a rethink by Mr Potter.)

Kieran, already the Prince of Celtic Park, has no less potential than Kenny to assume the status of an all-time icon, though the circumstances of Kenny's departure were somewhat different.

As Mike Maher points out, losing Kenny was very clearly a sign that Celtic could no longer keep the best players and there have been few exceptions since then – Henrik Larsson and Scott Brown being two of a small number.

But this is the reality we have lived with since that summer's day in 1977 when Jock Stein was reported to have said, “Kenny, is there anything I can say to change your mind?”, before Kenny uttered a simple, “No,” and signed the contract.

Well aware of the coup in replacing Kevin Keegan with an even better player and the blow to Celtic – albeit for a British record transfer fee of £440,000 – Bob Paisley famously said: “We'd better get out of here before these people realise what we've done.”

(Accounting for inflation, that fee would be approximately £1.9m today.)

But the conditions at Celtic are very different today.

One fact almost lost in the annals of time is that, just prior to 1977-78, Celtic were the bookies' favourites to win the European Cup. Today, we are by no means certain of qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League.

Losing Kieran would make that extremely difficult task, a whole lot harder, particularly as he is the only defender in whom we can all be confident in the most vital games against quality opposition.

On the other hand, the rumoured £25m fee, would go a very long way towards compensating the club for any failure to reach the group stages of Europe's top tournament so it is likely that Peter Lawwell would consider a sale to be a “no-brainer”.

We all know what that money could do for Celtic – buy several more sets of fancy floodlights, for example.

But, seriously, huge money is tempting for Celtic as we operate on a very different financial level from clubs in England.

There would also be the potential added bonus (not the one that goes into Peter's bank account – that one is guaranteed) that players like Moussa Dembele would see the move as encouraging and tempt them to sign on, confident of being released for a big-money move in the future.

That's all very well and, in some regards, positive but what does it really say about Celtic as a football club?

To my mind, it says that nothing has really changed. That the prevailing ethos is to keep just ahead of the domestic competition and see Europe as an occasional windfall.

But what then of Brendan's stated aim of making Celtic a side that can compete in the Champions League? Though we did make it into third place last season for one Europa League round, it is clear that there was little, if any, progress on the European stage.

In fact, you can make a very strong case for saying that Celtic finished last season a weaker side than 12 months previously as the league tables showed.

So, does Brendan want to sell Kieran (and the sincerity of his comments that a club has a moral duty to young players is a given, and his track bears that out)?

There are, as usual at Celtic, more questions than answers.

If the rumoured discussions are true, that can only be because:

a. A release clause has been activated, allowing Kieran to talk to other clubs

or

b. Because Celtic gave other clubs permission to talk to Kieran.

By the rules, there are no other circumstances under which direct contact could be made between the player, who is under contract, and any other club.

If the answer is “a”, we can forget any fanciful talk of the fee going any higher as every club will know that to be the maximum they have to pay. It will also, though, be the figure agreed by Celtic when Kieran extended his contract, signing a six-year deal while just 12 months into an existing five-year contract.

If the answer is “b”, then Celtic are actively trying to sell a player who has only ever indicated his joy at being a Celtic player and his desire to remain.

So let the insinuations against Kieran, leaking from supposedly “in the know” Celtic people and apparently emanating from the club, end now.

Kieran has been an exemplary Celtic player in his years at the club. No amount of accusations of “greed” or claims that Brendan is “disgusted” change that and some of those issuing them should hang their heads in shame.

As a stupid football fan, I want Kieran to stay but I will wish him well if he leaves and hope that he collects the biggest gongs that football has to offer. He deserves everything good that the game can give.

This is not some Islam-Feruz-type of situation and nor has he, for example, signed a one-year deal before promptly opting for a hernia op to ready himself for a move elsewhere, while Celtic paid his salary.

This is a young man who has dedicated himself to his sport and to Celtic but, to some cynics, that counts for nothing when the aim is to protect certain executives by directing fans' ire at the player.

If we do get £25m to add to the £7m for Armstrong and the tens of millions from two Champions League campaigns, we can be fairly sure that a small chunk of that cash will go towards more diamond-mining, hoping to uncover the next mega-profit player as we struggle for respectability in Europe.

Some of those will flop, as several signings have done, and the few gems will be polished up to realise their full market value.

Celtic will continue to tread water in Europe while, hopefully (but not certainly), dominating in Scotland, prompting ironic questions of, “What more do you want?” and continued derisive remarks about our Scottish pub league.

As Hiram Johnson once said, “The first casualty, when war comes, is truth.” The same can be said of transfer speculation.--

Celtic haven't quite wrapped up the Scottish Premiership title – but we've bought the paper

Celtic took a huge step towards retaining the Scottish Premiership title with a 2 – 0 win over Aberdeen in what promised to be a tricky match, following the team's exertions in St Petersburg on Thursday.

On a day in which the Pittodrie groundsman had apparently mistaken his lawnmower for a cultivator

, the football was never likely to be silky-smooth.

However, what mattered most was that Celtic's 10th consecutive win over the Dons establishes a nine-point lead at the top and effectively kills off whatever remained of the Dandie's challenge.

It's little wonder that the Dons boss, Derek McInnes was many Celtic fans' choice to be the fourth man for the Ibrox hotseat. Let's hope, as Aberdeen fans surely do, that The Rangers come knocking at Stewart Milne's door again in the summer.

BUY NOW: Aberdeen wisely
made this bottle in
crash-proof plastic

Earlier in the day this blog anticipated the real prospect of a Dons win, reckoning without Deek's remarkable ability to be thoroughly awful when faced with a side from Glasgow.

However, after an excellent win which saw glimpses of the Moussa Dembele we've been looking for all season and the (insert your own superlative here) Kieran Tierney showing exactly why he is wanted across Europe, we are now effectively two wins from being ready to call ourselves champions.

Whereas as loss could have allowed The Rangers the chance to leave Ibrox only three point behind on March 11th, winning the next two matches would leave Celtic at least 12 point clear and waving goodbye to the Would-be challengers.

After a difficult February, the players and coaching staff deserve praise for securing what is probably our most important league win of the season.



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Echoes of the past and green shoots of trust for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic

There is something in the air around Celtic Park at the moment, for now little more than a faint aroma but it's growing.

Brendan Rodgers asked Celtic fans to trust the players after another night when questions were asked but the right answers were delivered.

Young Team: Eoghan O'Connell and Moussa Dembele

It was far from a perfect performance and there were a few players who illustrated why Brendan is still said to be pursuing four other signings – but more of them another time. This is a time to be positive.

He is right in everything he says about fans' impatience creating extra pressure and anxiety. That leads to players making mistakes and it is only natural that a manager should try to do everything to create an atmosphere that allows his team to perform at its best.

But that trust is already slowly starting to build. If Brendan doesn't realise that, he should have been around last year.

For the past two seasons, many of the same players who were on display last night screwed up almost every time they were faced with a major test.

Fans were becoming accustomed to it. But there are signs that improvement is already being made.

There is an increasing sense that the players understand what is expected of them  – both in terms of their roles and commitment – in a way that had been missing.

That lends confidence to the fans and, if understandably nervous, most seem to be getting back that sense of belief in the team.

It will take time – and consistent professional performances – to fully restore that trust but the green shoots of hope are there.

Kieran Tierney, Eoghan O'Connell and Patrick Roberts continue to impress but honourable mention must also go to Saidy Janko who showed some of the ability that caused Manchester United fans to have such high hopes for him before he was thrust into a transitional defence at Celtic.

There are areas for improvement in his game, such as his decision making, but, crucially, he looked like a player who could develop with the sort of quality coaching most of us believe we now have at the club.

And I can't be the only one to have waited for Moussa Dembele to take that penalty, thinking that we were about to witness a pivotal moment in his career.

My mind went back to the story of a 20-year-old Kenny Dalglish tying his lace before scoring a penalty against Rangers for his first competitive goal.

Kenny later admitted that it wasn't because he was cool-as-a-cucumber but instead he was taking the chance to steady his nerves.

We don't know how far Dembele will progress but we do not need to doubt his nerve on the big occasion ever again.

Kolo Toure also brought a sense of assurance to all around him although, ironically, the goal was conceded a few minutes after he went on. We seem to have a new top-drawer defensive coach but, this time, he's on the pitch – and he can play a bit as well.

But, for me, the most surprising change was in Scott Brown. I have long been an admirer and

Play it Kolo: Toure calls for calm

defender of Brown, often taking pelters for my troubles.

I was even once harangued for having mentioned him in the same article as Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard although no direct comparison was ever made.

So I was amused to read Brendan comparing Scott to Gerrard in terms of leadership and commitment to the club.

Before he took a single match, Brendan replied, “150% yes”, to questions about whether the club captain would remain. When you hear the manager then praising him for tactical understanding and playing ability that even he hadn't expected him to have, you can finally put the constant critics to bed.

Last night's was a different performance from Scott, apparently free from being the sole input of drive in the team, trying to force play with sheer energy.

He seemed to have more time on the ball than on any occasion I can imagine, no doubt helped by the improved organisation Brendan Rodgers has brought to the team.

With that, came probably his best night in terms of ball distribution that I have ever seen from him – both long and short passing with both feet, including one 35-yard pass to put Leigh Griffiths through on goal.

Brendan has said Scott can be the playmaker and – pelters at the ready, now – there were even shades of Paul McStay in his readiness to take pressure off his teammates, switch play and create opportunities.

None of this need be taken as premature predictions of greatness for the team or individual players.

What we have are signs of progress and with them, early seeds of trust. It will be continued progress that will allow that trust to grow.

And then the sky's the limit. We may even start talking about hope.
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